RAMALLAH, Palestine, Dec 7 (NNN-WAFA) – President Mahmoud Abbas said, an agreement on elections with Gaza-based factions is close, but the issue that remains is, how to hold it in East Jerusalem.
“Now after overcoming the issue with Gaza, there remains another essential issue about East Jerusalem,” said Abbas, emphasising “the elections must be held in the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza.”
“If the residents of East Jerusalem were unable to participate in elections in their city, we will come back to this table to decide what we can do,” the president said, at the opening of a meeting of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO), at his office in West Bank city of Ramallah.
Member of PLO Executive Committee and Secretary General of the Palestinian People’s Party, Bassam Salhi said, all factions have agreed to hold the elections.
“But there are a few things that need to be completed before that, and the general framework is to hold both parliamentary and presidential elections,” Salhi said.
Abbas accused Israel of escalating its settlement activity and seeking annexation of the West Bank’s Jordan Valley, threatening to cut off all ties and signed agreements with Israel and the United States.
The PLO’s Executive Committee is the highest executive body in the organisation, which has been chaired by Mahmoud Abbas since the death of former Palestinian President, Yasser Arafat. Abbas was elected as the president of the Palestinian Authority in Jan, 2005.– NNN-WAFA